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Ask the Readers: Which Financial Products Do You Actually Use?

The financial blogging conference last week was great. My colleagues and I had a lot of thought-provoking discussions, not only in the planned sessions but also late at night in the hotel lobby. One of these impromptu chats focused on the financial products we actually use.

Financial bloggers do a lot of product reviews. (I do them too, but I think they’re tedious. Besides, I think there are some ethical grey areas with product reviews, so I don’t venture there very often.) Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which tools they’re pitching and which tools they actually endorse.

For my part, I don’t endorse anything. One of my mantras is “do what works for you“. That’s because I don’t believe there’s any one-size-fits-all answer, especially with banks and credit cards. As a perfect example, many financial bloggers (including me) love ING Direct. That’s where we do our banking. But Mike Piper from Oblivious Investor is a quiet Bank of America fan. “I think they’re great,” he told me. Mike’s a smart guy, so I can’t help wondering if maybe he knows something that we don’t!

“You know,” I told the group. “I think it’d be fun to actually tell my readers which financial products I actually use. And then ask them to do the same.” So that’s what we’re going to do today.

With that preamble out of the way, here are the financial products I actually use:

Bank accounts.
As I’ve shared in the past, I have several bank accounts.

My business banking is all done with Wells Fargo, which is a legacy from when I co-founded my computer consulting business with two friends. One of my buddies had an account at Wells Fargo, so he opened our business account there. They’ve given me great service, so I’ve never moved the account. It’s been there for over a decade.

My personal checking account lives at the local credit union. Again, I like their service, and I like supporting a local bank. I have a couple of old savings accounts there too, but they have no money in them.

Since I discovered the wonders of high-yield savings accounts, most of my cash lives at ING Direct. I chose ING because Get Rich Slowly readers raved about it. Plus at the time, it offered a very high interest rate. (I think it was about five percent when I signed up, a rate we’re not likely to see again for many years.) Because I practice targeted saving, I have several savings accounts at ING — one for each of my current pet projects.

“Whey don’t you have your personal accounts and business accounts at the same bank?” Adam Baker asked me in Chicago. “It’s a legacy of my poor financial habits,” I said. “I intentionally kept them separate so I couldn’t mingle funds. Now it’s a psychological thing. I like keeping things clearly delineated.”

Credit cards
For almost a decade, I didn’t carry a personal credit card. Credit card abuse had led me to become deep in debt, so I wanted to prevent temptation. But it was you folks who suggested I was ready to use credit wisely and recommended I get a card.

GRS readers suggested I try a Capital One No-Hassle Cash Back card (now called a Capital One Cash card). It’s a cash rebate card that earns me 1% on everything I spend. I use it for nearly everything I can (and then I pay it off at the end of the month. Readers recommended it back in 2007 was that it has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s perfect for travel. I’ve had it for four years without any signs of returning to my former habits.

My second card is also perfect for travel. It’s a Chase British Airways card, which I wrote about in April. I did indeed sign up, and I met the spending requirements to obtain the 100,000 airmile bonus (though barely). I think I have 106,000 miles on it now or something like that, but I have no idea how to use them. Something to look at in 2012.

Finally, I carry a business credit card. Actually, I have two. The first is my Wells Fargo VISA, which I obtained for obvious reasons. (And which I had even when I carried no personal credit cards.) My second business card is the TrueEarnings Business Card from Costco and American Express, which I use to get cash back on business purchases. This one is actually kind of silly. I don’t spend a lot on my business, so it doesn’t make much sense to go after cash back, especially since there’s an annual fee on the card. When I get home from Peru, I should cancel this.

Brokerage
When I started investing, I used Sharebuilder. Though their fees are relatively high, they were perfect for helping me develop the habit of saving every month. I still recommend them to people who are just starting out. But if I were starting again today, I’d probably use Betterment instead. (Although it’s important to note that Betterment doesn’t allow you to save in a Roth IRA.)

When I set up the 401(k) for my business, I needed to find a broker that allowed me to open a specific type of account. I wanted to go through Vanguard, but they didn’t offer what I needed. I went to Fidelity instead. I’ve been very pleased with Fidelity, and have built a good relationship with the fellow who manages my account at the local office. Now that Vanguard offers solo 401(k)s, I’m not willing to switch.

Note: And what do I invest in at Fidelity? I shared this info earlier this year when I wrote about rebalancing.

Miscellaneous
My family has always had insurance through the same State Farm office in the town where I grew up. My father was friend with the agency’s founder. When Dad died, the rest of the family kept our policies there. Now, though, the agent himself has died, and when I went in recently to ask about umbrella insurance, all of the women who used to sit at the desks out front were gone. Nobody’s there that I know. In other words: I’m no longer loyal to State Farm. One of my projects for this winter is to research insurance of all types. Not only is it likely to save me money, but it’ll also probably give me several blog posts!

The only other major thing would be the software I use to track my saving and spending. I know many people prefer to do this on-line, but I’ve tried a variety of these tools and none of them work for me. I always come back to the desktop version of Quicken, as quirky and cranky as it is. There’s just nothing else that fits the way I work.

Disclaimer: Again, I’m not endorsing any of these products. I don’t do endorsements. Instead, I’m trying to share what I do in real life.

Now it’s your turn. What financial products do you actually use? Where do you put your money? Who’s your broker? What credit cards do you carry? Who provides your insurance? Do you like these companies? Are you looking to try something else? Help GRS readers learn …

For the record, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Bank of America to everyone. A big part of the reason I like them is that they can handle business checking and personal checking (with no fees at all, given that I don’t use a debit card), and they have an excellent payroll service that’s very affordable and that handles all of the state, local, and federal reporting completely automatically.

If I didn’t have to do payroll, or if I was a debit card user, it’s entirely likely I’d be with a different bank (though I don’t know which one).

As far as other servies: Vanguard rocks my socks.

I like the idea of Betterment, but their costs just seem too high to me at this point.

I use Bank of America for our personal and business checking. However, I am currently looking for a new servicer, so I will be very interested to hear what others think and recommend. I also use ING because I love the ease of creating sub-accounts.

I know they don’t offer the absolute highest rates, but the difference is negligible, and I love their customer service and ease of use.

JD, for someone who 1) pays off his CC balances every month 2) loves to travel and 3) is friends with CHRIS GILLEBEAU!! your credit card portfolio is terrible!! You should do a little bit of research and replace the cards you have with cards that will provide you better value in travel rewards.

But:
one of us travels for work. That is what makes this possible (for us). We don’t own a business. Just a regular employee that travels for work most of the time.

And:

1. You need to be brand loyal. It helps to live in a major airline hub. Always pick the airline that uses you as a hub – the flights are cheaper generally than non hub airlines.

2. Sign up for every special they have- hotel, airline etc. Get on their email lists, read sites such as “flyertalk.com”. For example, united has a dining rewards program. points for eating out!

3. We charge $1500-3000 monthly- 75% work expense. We get 1.5 – 2 miles for every dollar spent. everything goes on card- utilities, candy bars, etc

4. The email specials / off season specials can be amazing if you live near a major hub. We went to Paris once in November for $200 each roundtrip once. (mid 2000′s)

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63

Stevesays:

14 October 2011 at 9:39 am

I would like to know how much you had to spend to earn that level of rewards. I spent a solid year on a business traveling account staying the Marriott in downtown Toronto and came nowhere near that level of reward. For the one year I received about two weeks in Key West Vacation Villa (2 bedrooms).

After a great deal of searching and utilizing reward systems I feel I always come out on top going for the highest savings today and looking for the best deals. Rewards are restrictive and expensive to earn.

You can find the latest promotions for every airline and hotel program at http://www.flyertalk.com. If you invest 10 minutes/month reading the posts for your preferred airline/hotel programs, you will earn more miles and points than 99% of travelers.

As far as recent mileage bonuses, United/Continental’s CC offered me 60k miles recently, and I signed up for a 75k American offer last year. American also had a 100k offer, but it required much more spending.

I have my personal checking account at my local credit union. It has a pretty good interest rate on the account (i.e. better than Ally or ING), so I keep the first $30,000 of my savings there, which includes my emergency fund. My credit union allows me to create extra savings accounts easily, so I have an account for my vacation fund there too. I used to have it at Ally, but it is just easier this way.

I recently switched my online savings accounts from ING to Ally for the better CD rates and to keep things more consolidated.

My 401(k) is at Vanguard, so I opened my Roth IRA with them as well as a taxable investment account, which has been a great move. I thank my employer for choosing Vanguard for their 401(k) plan.

I have the Amazon.com credit card through Chase. You get 3% on Amazon.com purchases, 2% on drugstore, grocery, and restaurant purchases, and 1% on everything else, so this is a great card for me. I also have a credit card through my local credit union.

This would be a good card to go along with my CostCo American Express card, which gives 3% on gas, 2% on CostCo purchases, and 1% on everything else. The Chase rewards card gives 5% on different types of items every quarter. With the right mix of cards, one could get quite a lot of cash back.

Bank accounts – Just switched from Wells Fargo to a local credit union. My online savings accounts are with ING and Discover Bank, both are very good.

Credit cards – Chase Freedom MC and Discover. I use the Chase card all the time for the cash back. The best is when I use it for work and get reimbursed, free money!!!

Brokerage – Vanguard rocks my socks as well!

Insurance – About a year ago I switched from Erie to Progressive and saved about $400 a year! I never had to make a claim with either so I can’t say one was better than the other. For as easy as it is to shop for insurance, I plan on looking just about every year.

I use my local bank for checking and savings accounts as I have my paycheck deposited there. Then the money is farmed out to other accounts. (1) T Rowe Price for a taxable brokerage account as well as the children’s UTMA college accounts. (2) ING for cash emergencies (coupled with Sharebuilder to improve my monthly return on savings). (3) USAA for all insurance and mortgage needs (with laddered CD’s to cover all insurance deductibles).

For banking: my local credit union all the way. Better customer service, higher deposit rates, lower loan rates, lower and fewer fees, awesome workshops. And in 2008, it never crossed anyone’s mind that it might fail.

For credit card: American Express Blue Cash Preferred. It has a $75 annual fee, but with 6% back on groceries and 3% on gas stations, as a family of four we earn that fee back in a month. Oh, and because I’ve been with them for years, the interest rate is just below 8%.

For investments: Mike Piper’s dead on. Vanguard is awesome, for similar reasons as my credit union — they’re run by the fundholders, not the shareholders.

For insurance: State Farm. I get a ton of multi-line discounts for having homeowner’s, auto, and life insurance through them, and my local agent is ridiculously fast and thorough in asking any question I happen to e-mail him.

I have the regular AMEX Blue Cash card, and very rarely is AMEX not accepted. I think maybe a handful of times a year it’s not accepted. Frankly, I can only think of 1 time in the last year that’s happened, but to be safe, I’m going with a handful. If it’s not going to be accepted, it will probably be at a small mom-and-pop kind of place. But most mom-and-pop places I’ve gone to accept AMEX.

All you people are much more deliberate than me in your accounts. This is something I will need to fix. I am crazy about tracking my finances, though. I used to use Quicken, but I had trouble downloading my transactions from the various banks I used, so for a while I built an excel sheet that did something similar, but with arrays and complex vlookups.

Now, however, I’ve switched to Mint.com, which I am sure y’all are already aware of. The weakness there is that you cannot change the categories it uses or add new rollup categories, but the advantage is that I can check it on my phone and it gives me a (reasonably accurate) sense of where I am in my budget for the month at any given time. It improves if you take the time to correct miscategorized items. It has increased my budgeting effectiveness many times.

On Mint, do you mean the transactions categories?If so you can change them – in fact I just changed one this morning, a purchase from Crate and Barrel Mint marked as Furnishings I simply switched to Gifts as it was a wedding present.

I also love Mint.com – I use my debit card for everything so I can see every transaction that I make. I check my transactions every couple of days to make sure they are in the right category. I love being able to see exactly how much I’m spending each month on things like groceries and eating out.

I’m a big believer in small community banks, so I have my checking, day-to-day savings, mortgage and part of my emergency fund at a local bank. I love it – low fees, and I can go talk to a live human being when I want. They refund ATM fees, so I can go to an out-of-network ATM when necessary. (I try not to, though.)

A big chunk of my emergency fund is at ING. The rest of my savings – IRAs and college funds, are at Vanguard. I love them, because the fees are low and service is great. Next year I will be able to roll a large portion of my 401k over, and that will go to Vanguard too.

My credit cards are not optimized. Reading this, I am thinking maybe I will look into a travel card since I’d love to take my family on a big, non-car trip in a year or two. Or else, I can put it in a cash rewards program.

For my financial management, I use the Microsoft Money sunset program, now free to all. I still find it much easier to use than Mint or the other online programs.

In addition to all of the above I also opened a SEP IRA with them, 529 plan for the baby, and have a number of targeted accounts. They also have a great feature where I can immediately deposit a check using my iPhone.

Perhaps I have too many accounts with them and am missing out on some better deals, but the convenience cannot be topped. I have almost all of my financial info and documents on one page I can access from anywhere via my phone. They already have great customer service but being bundled I think makes them ever more responsive and helpful, if that’s possible. When I had a minor little claim due to Hurricane Katrina a few years back they were actually helpful and responsive and a joy to work with, whereas everyone else I know was stonewalled and low-balled by their companies.

Now as to my mortgage with them, they sold/ transferred it to GMAC for servicing, which has me less than pleased. Those people are jerks, to put it kindly.

USAA for checking, savings, CDs, auto insurance, renters insurance, and even some life insurance on top of my SGLI. The interest rates aren’t the best but with online banks having a hard time breaking 1% I’d rather just invest my extra money.

Have a Roth IRA at Vanguard and will be opening one at Fidelity next year. All my taxable investments go through Fidelity.

I track with Mint.com and my own Excel sheets although Wiki Invest is growing on me.

I use State Farm. I have all of my insurance with them, checking, savings, money market, IRA accounts, as well as a credit card with 1% cash back on everything. I can access all of my insurance and bank accounts through a single login. I switched initially to take advantage of their no fee ATM use where they even reimburse the fee from the ATM owner as well as their free FedEx overnight shipping to deposit checks, but things are even better now that I can deposit checks using my phone or computer with scanner. If you need to call their customer service number they answer quickly and are in the US. I loved being able to open a new checking account for my sports team from home on a weekend.

I use a small local credit union for basic checking accounts. I also have 2 car loans through them. They always have excellent car loan rates (currently 3.5%, including used cars!). They don’t offer a ton of perks for a checking account, but they don’t charge any fees, either.

I have my savings accounts through ING. I have dabbled a bit and opened a checking account there just in case, but I rarely use it.

I have my ROTH IRA through Vanguard.

I have my son’s 529 through Fidelity. I actually wish I had opened it through Fidelity, but I keep hoping that someday, SOMEDAY our state will allow you to deduct contributions to the state plan on your income tax. I live in one of the few states that doesn’t (currently).

For credit cards, I’m probably the only person on the planet who loves dealing with Cap One. I have 2 cashback accounts – one for my personal spending, and one for household spending. I have a small handful of other cards I have used in the past and continue to keep open “just in case”, but I use the Cap One everyday.

I also use Quicken. I used MS Money for years, and I honestly liked it a LOT better. I only switched when they stopped supporting automatic downloads and stock quotes. I still have issues with Quicken not working for me at times, but it’s something I’ve just come to accept. I have a Mint account, but it’s not useful to me, and I downloaded GNUcash but haven’t found the patience yet to really set it up.

Bank At: PNC virtual wallet
Save At: PNC/SmartyPig (although i just found out that transferring out of SmartyPig is a pain in the ass)
Invest At: etrade for an IRA, Hewitt Resources for my 401k
Credit Cards: (in order of awesomeness)
Costco AMEX
Discover
BofA Phillies Reward Card
HSBC Cash or Fly card
Various store credits opened for various discounts
(We have too many in my opinion, but no balances carried)
Insurance: Progressive (WAAY cheaper for me than any other large national provider, YMMV)
Mortgage through Wells Fargo, who I like a lot. Free weekly mortgage payments, nice.

I’m a HUGE fan of an OS X product called Moneywell (http://nothirst.com/moneywell/). It’s essentially digital envelope budgeting with the ability to connect directly to your banks to download transactions. In fact, I’m considering switching from Ally to ING just because Ally doesn’t offer the ability to connect and download transactions automatically (also known as an OFX server).

I HIGHLY recommend Amica for all insurance. I was a State Farm guy for close to a decade but switched everything over last year.

The company is always one of the top-ranked providers (along with USAA, which I don’t qualify for) in the country and their rates are extremely competitive. I also like that they’re a mutual company, don’t advertise, and have exceptional customer service.

They don’t have local offices, just regional ones, but I’ve been talking with the same lady on the phone for close to two years now and she is incredibly helpful and answers all my questions. I’d definitely at least give them a call and get some quotes. The came out on top of probably 10 other companies when I did so!

Banking: almost all my accounts are with the Co-op bank, because their customer service is amazing, and they have ethical investment principles – two things that matter a lot to me. Also, I get “dividend” (=rewards) from them.

Credit cards: two. One with the co-op which earns both divvy points *and* cashback. One with Barclays which is my “emergency” card (i.e. not kept in my wallet, for if my wallet got stolen etc). I might look at moving this one somewhere else because I really hate Barclays, but at least it hardly gets used so I probably cost them money…

Investments: I like low-risk investments, so most of my savings are in a cash ISA (tax-free account), which I chose purely on the basis of high interest. I also have a good work pension account.

Insurance: I shop around for this each year – I think I’m with the co-op this year though because they gave me a member discount.

Bank Accounts – USAA, SmartyPig, HSBC & BBT. I know, way too many, but i do a lot of targeted saving and opened up a couple at HSBC when the rates were high and then SmartyPig recently. BBT account was opened when i was 14 so i have been able to give that up, but their recent fees are about to solve that emotional connection.

Credit Cards – USAA & Chase Freedom, although the amazon.com one sounds intriguing since i order so much from there.

Insurance – USAA

Investments – Fidelity and then 401k at Vanguard

Tools – Microsoft Money. haven’t found the perfect solution to switch to yet. Its between quicken and moneydance right now, but fear of change and laziness is winning.

For personal banking, I have accounts at a local community bank and a local credit union. I have my emergency savings and home mortgage at ING. Refinancing my mortgage was as easy as could be. I’ve been extremely pleased with their customer service.
For insurance, I am loyal to State Farm. I’ve been with them since I started driving, nearly 20 years ago. They’ve been quick to respond to claims and I’ve never had a hassle.
For credit cards, I use a Choice Privileges Visa that earns hotel points. I use it for almost everything, and pay it off every other Friday (payday).
For expense tracking, I use excel. Totally basic, but it does the job.

Would be great if you could share a version of your excel template with other readers some how, or recommend your original source. I use excel too( since my local credit union where I have my checking account, and which I love, only offers non-automatic quicken downloads, it doesn’t give me incentive to use much else). I think my excel system could be improved on and I’m wondering what others do.

I used to do most of my banking through Citibank (20+ year customer), but several missteps on their part has caused me to decide to close all but the credit card accounts (mostly for the credit rating effect of the long-term account).

I have my SEP, Roth, and brokerage accounts at Scottrade. Across these and my other investment accounts, I have a 4% return over the last 5 years – which is pretty decent, given the recent market. I have been quite satisfied with them, and they have an office blocks from work, so I have just opened checking and savings accounts to which to transfer my Citibank ones.

My 401k is maintained at Hancock. I don’t care much for the expense ratio – part of the reason it is not rated too high in it’s class – but the company match more than makes up for that. I contribute just enough to get the maximum match.

My mortgage was sold three times before settling on the current lender, Bank of America. I took out a 15 year note, but it will be paid off in a few months after only 5 years. The nice thing about the second holder, Countrywide, was that they offered a credit card that gave 2% across the board toward mortgage payments. This was converted to a Chase Freedom card after Countrywide was out of the picture.

I moved my wife’s accounts from Citibank to Chase, in order to consolidate her personal, business, and retirement accounts (and our Chase Freedom card). I’m not entirely happy with the fees and account requirements, though.

I also have savings, checking, and sharebuilder accounts at ING (the latter opened to take advantage of a cash bonus). I had direct deposit of a portion of my paycheck into the savings account, and would periodically sweep the money into my Scottrade brokerage account when I wanted to make a stock purchase. With the new accounts at Scottrade, I don’t really need the ING accounts, but may use them for my wife if we don’t stick with Chase.

Besides the above-mentioned accounts, I also have a CostCo American Express card, which provides a great percentage on certain categories, resulting in more than $500 cash back every year.

I started tracking my finances with Money about 10 years ago, switching to Quicken when Microsoft stopped supporting its product. Not only does the software help me keep track of accounts and bills, but the net worth graph serves as a motivator to keeping my retirement goals on track. After 10 years, I have gone from a negative net worth to about half-way to my minimum retirement goal.

Credit: CitiBank AAdvantage for American Airlines miles – I used to charge everything to get miles, but now to stay on budget, I put $300 in my wallet at the beginning of the month, and that’s all I allow myself to spend for groceries and misc per month. Paying cash really helps me “see” my money and I hate to part with it!

I closed my accounts with ING a couple days after finding out that Capital One had bought the company. I’m not a fan of Capital One’s business practices. Very sad, considering I was getting ready to move my mortgage over to ING.

Right now I just have Bank of America for both checking and Savings but I will be closing them down as well and moving to a local Credit Union. I use my debit card a lot and I don’t want to pay MORE fees.

I have two credit cards;
BOA Visa Credit Building
Discover Cash Back

I seem to use the Discover card more than the BOA Visa so I’ll be closing it down at the end of the year.

A diehard Quicken fan, although I’d rather jump off a bridge than deal with their “tech support,” which was outsourced from the U.S. last time I called them a few years ago (horrible, horrible experience). When I upgraded to a Mac from PC, I switched to Quicken Essentials for Mac, had no trouble transferring files (10 years of records). Quicken Essentials is great for the basics, but is definitely nothing fancy, and is quite different from “regular” Quicken, so it takes some time to get used to. It gets the job done and is terrific on a Mac.

I was at ING and Sharebuilder and really liked them, but made the decision to switch because I had heard that Cap One was going to buy them. I don’t know if that still is the case, if not I would consider going back to Sharebuilder and a targeted savings acct. Right now I have everything with USAA and I’m VERY happy. They have been my insurance company forever and I have been thrilled with the banking products for the past two years. I can’t say enough good things about the customer service, ease of use, and no costs banking. My debit card is a cash rewards, the interest rates could be better, but there are zero fees – even my checks are free! The brokerage account is a little more complicated than Sharebuilder so that has taken some getting use to, but the IRA is very easy to manage. I keep an account at my local bank just in case I need to deposit cash, otherwise everything is done on my desktop or my iPhone.

I use US Bank for checking and savings and have a credit card from them too. I like the ease of transferring between accounts. When I opened the accounts, it was a local bank with no fees, then US Bank bought them. I stuck with them because they had free bill pay and no fees other than a lame 25 cent charge to use their debit card. Most places allow you to select credit and I can avoid that silly fee.

I have a Wells Fargo credit card that gives me cash back toward my mortgage that I have through them. Rarely use it. Also have a Capitol One card that I never use.

Roth IRA through Edward Jones. Sadly my financial guy quit last year and his replacement is a ninny, so I’m thinking of taking my biz elsewhere. I used to have a money market fund with EJ too when rates were high, but I closed it and transferred to savings at US Bank because it was safer and the same interest rate when rates took a dive.

I have car/home insurance through Farmers. My family had Farmers and I just stuck with them. When I checked rates about 8 years ago, they were the lowest I could find. I will say I do not like how they handle claims. They made the process waaay more complicated than it needed to be on a simple low dollar no-fault claim (hubby hit a bear!).

For savings, I’ve started using Smartypig. I also have ING but like the setup of Smartypig and they provide the same interest rate (for a while they offered more than ING). For new savers, Smartypig is great.

For checking, I use two different accounts. I budget heavily so one is for all my bills and the other has an automatic deposit for ‘fun’ money, which I use for entertainment, clothes, dining out, etc. Once that money is gone, it’s gone. If I have anything left, it moves to saving, which I have several (ING, Smartypig and local credit union for quick access for emergencies).

Bank accounts – Local bank all the way. They provide all the services that the Wells Fargos and Bank of a Americas offer but with better personalized customer service.

Credit cards – None. I don’t even mess with those things. You play with snakes, you’re gong to eventually get bit. My bank debit cards with the Visa/Mastercard can do anything a credit card can, and there’s no concerns about interest rates, fees, or any of the other hassles that come with credit cards. Cash baby, cash.

Brokerage – Vanguard. Lower fees than most of the competition.

Insurance – State Farm for home, life, auto. The prices and plans are competitive with all the other major carriers, but the big thing that made me go with state farm was the awesome local agent who exceeds all of my expectations of an insurance agent. My insurance guy is a model for what an insurance agent SHOULD be. I’m lucky.

I like that you don’t do lots of reviews and that you realize financial choices are not one-size-fits-all. I’d like to encourage folks to take a look locally to see if they’re missing out on great providers.

Every time I read another disastrous story about high fees and poor service at behemoth banks, I wonder who keeps giving them their business. Apparently a lot of people, since their profits are ever increasing despite making tons of bad mortgages over the past few years.

I assume most people use the big name banks and credit card companies because they’re easy to research and they do a lot of advertising and direct mail.

And some folks are doing very sophisticated gaming to get travel miles.

I’m glad to hear, J.D. that you’ve had good service from your banks. You’ve been fortunate based on the complaints I’ve gotten from my counseling clients.

But I haven’t seen anything at the big companies that beats my local, community development credit union. I get 1% cash back on credit card purchases. And I can talk to local staff people if I have questions or problems.

Best of all, the credit union’s mission is to help underserved people build wealth and to support local businesses and individuals. They even serve as the banker for our local currency, the Ithaca Hours.

I use State Farm for my homeowners and car insurance–I get discounts for being a long-time customer with multiple lines.

But I also stay with them because they are a rare homeowner’s insurance company that doesn’t deny coverage to people with “dangerous” dog breeds. Although my Golden Retriever wouldn’t end up on anybody’s breed ban, I want to show solidarity with everyone who loves pitbulls (not a breed), Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Chows, Siberian Huskies, and any of the other 20 or so breeds banned by many insurance companies.

My investments are with PaxWorld but I’m not satisfied that they meet my values as much as I’d like.

After enjoying Quicken for years, I became a Mac user and heard it didn’t work as well for the Mac so I switched to Moneydance which I like alot.

I use Bank of America mainly because of their online security features, like the SafePass Code. I haven’t found another bank in my area that uses that feature. I pay all my bills online – and have not had any fee or rate issues with them.

I love Quicken, but do not let it download/update from my bank. As a double check against errors (either mine or bank’s), I do a screen-shot copy (Ctrl+PrtScn) of my bank account and paste into a Word doc which I save by month, then use it to double check and/or make entries into Quicken. I download all statements in PDF as well.

I made an excel spreadsheet that extends for years for my savings accounts and debt payment plan, with columns for deposit/descrip/payment/balance using carry-over formulas to each year. Gives me great at-a-glance view of how I’m doing paying off debt, savings accounts, and what my future is going to look like when I’m debt free!

Cathy, I’m curious as to why you don’t allow Quicken to download your transactions AND then double-check them?

When I first started using Money, I manually entered my transactions, since it had a habit of posting many transactions multiple times, which were more trouble to correct than manual posting. IIRC, I had to actually delete and recreate some accounts (or restore a backup) to restore things, due to the transfer transactions getting stuck.

When I switched to Quicken a couple years ago, I cautiously tried out the downloads (after ensuring I had a backup of my 10 year financial file), which have been working quite well. I still verify every transaction when reconciling and balance against my bank balances to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

So my habit is to run the automated downloads every day (or three, at most), check, categorize, and mark as reconciled every transaction I’ve had eyes on. Once a month (or three, for little-used accounts just gathering interest or sitting at a zero balance, for example), I check my statement balance against my Quicken balance to ensure all is still on track. In the rare event they don’t match, THEN I manually reconcile every transaction since the last time I verified the balance. This process is the best way for me to actively track 30 accounts without going crazy.

Insurance. Amica. These guys are awesome. I went with them in 2003 when I moved to CA. I have home, auto and umbrella coverage. Their customer service is top notch. I have 7 children and most have been insured as teenagers with Amica. Plus they have had several accidents so I’ve used this insurance. They are a dream with claims and have not raised my rates appreciably despite the accidents (3 since we were insured). It’s easy to keep my college kids on as 1% drivers. Also, the paperwork, policy descriptions I receive from them are easy to understand.

I use Mvelopes for managing my personal budget and money movement. I bouht a lifetime premier membership so it was a one time fee of about 200.00 I’ve used them for several years now and, while there have been some program glitches I have found the on line support really accessible and helpful. I really like the envelope system and being able to check at any time if I have an envelope funded enough for a purchase. I use their online bill pay as well.

My credit cards are all old ones I’ve had for years. I pay them monthly so the intert rates don’t matter much to me. I get miles, but probably not as many as I could with some other cards. Just too lazy to change what is working.

I bank at a credit union and ING direct. I like Ing as I can set up person to person payments so I can get money to my college kids easily.

One tip on the Costco AMEX Card, which I also use. If you pay your Annual Costco Fee on the card, there is no annual charge for the card itself. We make more than enough cash back to cover the annual Costco Membership, what with 3% back on Gas and 2% on restaurants.

I have been investigating a 2nd Travel related card as I work for an Airline, I wish I had jumped on the British Airways deal a few months ago, but back then I had a Visa Platinum card tied to my Home Equity line that offered very good travel perks. Our Credit Union decided to cancel that however, based on the lack of equity now in our home, which actually put us in a situation where we were forced to use the points – or not pay off the balance in full, which then would cancel the card / account. 116,000 points went a long way – but it did not purchase the type of products (Travel related) that we were saving the points for

Love this blog, been a member for many years and this is the first time I’ve commented on here. I apply a lot of the ideas to my own financial life. Keep up the awesome work.

DRIPs and no-load mutual funds for investments.
401(k) through my employer.
A large, nationally known bank for my free checking and rainy-day fund (because of their extended hours and numerous branches).
A VISA card with rewards which I use extensively and then pay off.
A MasterCard with a very low credit limit (cut by the issuer for non-use) for on-line purchases (just in case of hackers).
The bulk of my savings/investments are in a tiny, local bank with short hours and few branches so I can’t get to it too readily (thought you’d like that one!).

I don’t find ING that much better than some “brick” banks, but out of sight, out of mind.

For banking I use a local independent bank, Middlesex Savings. They have about 25-30 offices, but I tend to use the same 2 all the time. The tellers know my name, and for more advanced transactions the branch officers are friendly and thorough. If they are all busy the branch manager will let you hang out in her office and eat hard candies while you wait. Little things, but welcome.

More important, if you have a mortgage with them (I’m now mortgage-free!!) they DO NOT bundle it and sell it off–they retain it. I have a friend who got into serious arrears and, rather than dealing with some impersonal robo-signed entity he had never heard of, was able to work through the episode with the help of a dedicated mortgage specialist whom he knew personally. This kind of service is worth a lot.

For credit cards I mostly use Discover for the rebates, but I also have a Visa from the First National Bank of Omaha, which has the most charming telephone customer service staff you could ever hope to encounter. They are all incredibly helpful, are based in the USA, and never seem harried or impatient or unknowledgeable.

I have my day-to-day banking at Bank of America. I can’t leave them because their online bill pay is so slick. I have my business account there as well. I’ve used BOA for about 8 years.

I have my savings in a high interest checking account at a local credit union. right now, I’m getting 2.5%. I use my debit card 12 times per month to get that rate, then I switch over to using my credit card. I have to have a savings account to be a member at the credit union, but I just keep the minimum in there.

I use Discover for my credit card, because of the cash back.

My investments are about as basic as you can get. I pick a targeted date retirement fund and just let it ride. I use Vanguard and T.Rowe Price (I prefer Vanguard, but have legacy accounts at T.Rowe Price. I should probably switch it all to be Vanguard).

I have always had my insurance through Country Financial, ever since I started driving at age 16. They give me good rates, and I have always talked to the same agent. I feel comfortable with them, and know they aren’t going to try to sell me something I don’t want (which is rare these days). I’ve looked around at other rates, and Country is always right around the lowest price, so I see no need to really switch.

Yes! I was waiting to see when YNAB would get a mention. I’ve used it for nearly two years now, and although it was an initial investment (which is why, I feel, that most gravitate toward Mint.com if you’re just starting out with a budget), it satisfies my obsessive need for details. Honestly never had a problem with it — although I enter my transactions manually instead of syncing it with an account.

I realize that it’s uncool to admit you buy new clothes here, but I use the Macy’s card to get the discount. There is no harm no foul to buy your items, take the discount, and stop at another register on the way out of the store and pay the amount in full.

Last month, I used the birthday discount + 20% off card they sent me + 15% off for using my card and got a queen down quilt for $25.

Oh and I miss MS Money too, it was wonderful. Now I use Mint. I tried Quicken but hated it.

Not many! We use a local credit union for checking and savings, American Express for business travel expenses, an ING savings accounts for more savings, TDAmeritrade for a web broker and State Farm Insurance (we love their service). I use an app I wrote to keep the money in our checking account in virtual envelopes (see my website – it’s cheap!) and honestly that has made the biggest difference for us. I can now clearly see where I may spend and always have money on hand for the bills when they come.

I had a sharebuilder account it was pretty good for automated investing but I stopped using it because comissions were $4/trade. Instead I’m using a TD Ameritrade brokerage account because they have $0 transaction costs on select ETFs, including a lot of vanguard index funds- more than enough choices to make a great investment portfolio without transaction costs. If you are investing in a few ETFs monthly that $4/trade adds up.

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